Originally Posted by
tom11011
Read before voting. Identities are hidden in the poll.
Everyone tends to agree that regional airline FO's should be paid more money at regional airlines, even airline management. But how far would the regional pilot group as a whole be willing to go? I suppose the answer to this question might have something to do with whether you believe a regional airline is a place you can make a career at or whether you believe its 'up and out' only.
Even if your regional airline had the best intentions towards its pilots, they don't get to set the ticket prices. They are constrained by the pot of money given to them by their parent airline. And your airline management doesn't even decide how the money is divided up, the pilots do.
Get a bigger pot of money you say from the parent airline? Be careful because if you ask for too much, other regional airlines will fly right in under the radar and underbid you because they can afford to do so with newly found pilot concession money. Some call this type of pilot affliction SJS.
So could you support a flattened pay scale where Captains and FO's make the same amount of money? Where only years of service pays higher? Where size of equipment doesn't matter and is determined by mainline pilot scope provisions? Potentially, it could look like this- a pay scale that starts at $40,000/yr and tops out in year 10 at $80,000/yr, regardless of seat. That's a $4000 per year raise.
What are some of the benefits you ask? What if you have to start over at a new regional airline because you want to move, or you hate the company, or the company goes out of business, etc... think about how much easier it would be to do just that. Right now, you are screwed, it's HARD to leave after the first year. And think about this, the company is now more on the hook to make the place better otherwise they will have to deal with FO attrition and all the training costs of that attrition when pilots decide airline B is slightly better. All of the sudden they have a vested interest in keeping pilots happy if they know pilots have other better options and do not have to take such a massive pay hit to keep them from leaving. Pilots become less of a slave to the company.
The poll question is "Should Regional Airlines Flatten Pay Scales".
I have flown with so many former Comair pilots, laid off 91/135 guys, and military Lt. colonels and up. Most of which have more experience or qualifications than I do, but ultimately I am the boss. I don't believe treating the flight deck environment as "I'm the boss", but some one has to be the ultimate person that buck stops with and that is the captain position. There should be a higher pay scale for captains, but slightly. No fo should start out less than 40-45 an hour - period.
Several of the Comair guys that were 20+ year guys there mentioned that if they had to do over again, they would have fought to increase pay at the fo level there, but also urge alpa national to create one for for all regionals. The obvious reason is they are starting over at extremely low wages. 5-10 years ago this wasn't even a thought for them. How many of us are at a place we think is fine, but next year we are in their shoes?
Another problem is not just pay, but qol items to. If one company has guarantee of 12 days off a month and another company has 10 days off the company providing 12 off a month has a higher cost due to more staffing needs. Contract language has a very high importance just like pay.
It would be good if we could get to a world of decent pay for first year guys, but defining good pay is different for everyone. One thing is certain - it's not right anyone starts at current pay at regionals. This shouldn't matter if you are new out of flight school or a Chuck Yeager. We all deserve a professional wage.